


Down the Astro Turf Road

by Caraithyn



Series: ATR [1]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis, Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 08:12:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caraithyn/pseuds/Caraithyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince of Tennis meets The Wizard of Oz. During spring break, Yukimura gets whisked away to a strange land filled with versions of some of Rikkai's rivals(and teammates too).</p>
<p>My favorite movie of all time is The Wizard of Oz. So, I decided one day to do a crossover with Prince of Tennis and this is what happened. I have to say, I'm not sorry for it either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

On an empty, dusty road deep in the countryside of Japan, a lone figure walks home from his team’s daily tennis practice. His only companion is a small dog with silky black fur that trots along beside him.

The figure is tall, and slender. His trademark white sweatband missing from beneath his sweat soaked blue hair that hangs limp against his equally sweat soaked brow. The team’s distinct yellow and black tennis jacket is draped, as always, over his shoulders like a cape. The figure is Rikkaidai’s tennis captain, Yukimura Seiichi.

The little dog is also from Rikkai. He is Yukimura’s best friend, and boyfriend, Sanada Genichirou. Only now, after an experiment gone wrong, he is living in the form of the small hound and had been for several months.

~~~

_“Genichirou, I really would think that you would have learned by now to not accept any sort of food or beverage from a rival team at a party. Especially after the time that Akaya ended up being left tied naked to the fence of the tennis courts with Shiraishi Kuranosuke’s bandage,” Yukimura had told his vice-captain._

_All Sanada could do was hang his fur covered head and sulk over to curl onto Akaya’s lap. The youngest member of their team had been sitting on the opposite side of the room, on the floor when Sanada gave his captain the note that he had spent about two hours typing and printing out the night before in his current form that explained what happened. Then, he had spent at least thirty minutes sending an email to the entire team to gather them at his house so they could be there when it was explained. Once Sanada was in his lap, Akaya had started to scratch the fur on his vice-captain’s head before starting to run small, thin fingers along his furry back as they all tried to figure out what to do._

~~~

Finally the pair reached the cottage that sat alone with nothing around them but green grass. Rikkai’s tennis team had rented the house for Spring break - however, most of the team would agree that still practicing every day couldn’t really be called a “break”. When they reached the cottage, Jackal was outside. The half Brazilian boy was fixing the gate that had come unhinged after being slammed repeatedly several days before during one of Kirihara’s almost daily tantrums.

Behind their teammate, the front door to the house opened and Marui, Jackal’s doubles partner and boyfriend, emerged carrying a tray of freshly baked cookies and two large pitchers of iced tea for the rest of the team. Jackal took a cookie from the plate as he kissed Marui lightly on the cheek and thanked him before turning back to his work.

“I do wish that you two wouldn’t do that in front of us,” Yukimura scolded, not really meaning it.

Marui laughed as he replied, “Yea, Seiichi, like you and Sanada haven’t done worse in front of the entire team after a victory. Do I really need to remind you about your excitement after winning our first high school level National tournament? Besides, it’s not like Sanada can make us do laps in his…current condition.”

“Yes, but _I_ can,” Yukimura smirked.

Marui didn’t say anything else on the matter so Yukimura told Jackal to get back to work and told Marui to take the rest of the team their tea because they were all probably waiting rather impatiently for it. The blue haired captain and his little dog followed the red head around to the back of the house where they found the rest of the team trying to mold themselves to the patio furniture after being pushed extremely hard by Yukimura at practice, as usual. Some of them had managed to peel off their sweat soaked jerseys but the rest sat with the yellow shirts sticking, probably as uncomfortable as his was, tightly to their tired bodies.

“I do hope that you all enjoy an evening of relaxation. You have definitely earned it this week,” their captain commented as he and their vice-captain passed by them to enter their room. The only response of any sign of life in the boys that were scattered around the pool was a few grunts and a wave of a hand that was already stretched up over the back of a chair. Yukimura could see sweat soaked silver spikes of hair that were threatening to dissolve with the added moisture sticking above the chair telling him that the boy slouched there was obviously their team’s petenshi, Niou Masaharu.

Yukimura had made sure when they arrived at the cottage that the room he shared with Sanada faced the east for one main reason, so they could watch the sunrise together every morning before heading out for practice. The position of their room also provided them with the only room with an entrance off the main hallway as well as a sliding glass door that opened to the patio and pool. The back entrance was also helpful in giving them a good view of the pool so that they could keep an eye on the rest of the team, mainly Kirihara, as they lounged by the pool.

Once inside their room, Sanada jumped up onto the massive, king size bed and curled up to sleep. Yukimura smiled at the little dog as the ruffled the fur on his head on his way to their private bathroom. There, he stripped out of his sweaty uniform so that he could take a very hot, relaxing shower. When the boy they called the Child of God was thoroughly boiled red as a lobster, and his fingers were as wrinkly as Jackal’s grandfather, he pulled on an old pair of blue plaid pajama pants and a white cotton t-shirt.

After he was dressed, Yukimura went and flopped down on the bed, an action that he would never own up to if anyone other than Sanada EVER saw him “flop”. The motion jostled the mattress slightly, causing Sanada to wake but the little dog just got up and moved to curl up against his boyfriend, laying his head on Yukimura’s tennis toned stomach. Within seconds, they were both asleep.

That is until the room started to shake violently and various objects around them crashed to the floor.

When Yukimura sat up and looked around, what he saw out the window surprised him. He saw dust and dirt swirling frantically around the house. The blue haired boy realized that that meant that their cottage must be tumbling around inside a tornado.

The more he watched out the window, the more he was certain that something must have hit him on the head. Either that or he was going crazy. 

Why else could he have sworn that he just saw a piano fly past, with Hyoutei’s Choutarou Ohtori playing passionately at its keys. No sooner had the flying piano passed, he thought he saw a shape starting to move into his line of vision from the other direction. That shape ended up being Kikumaru Eiji, Seigaku’s acrobatic player, sitting in a bean bag as he played some sort of handheld game with a small ear bud headphone in each ear.

The next thing that he saw start to move past the window almost made the captain do a double take. There was no logical explanation as to why Momoshiro Takeshi would be pedaling nonchalantly past his window on his bike. Last Yukimura heard, Momo and most of the rest of Seigaku’s tennis team was spending Spring Break in Okinawa. They were reportedly training with Higa’s team, learning the finer arts of the island’s martial arts now that Tezuka and Kite were together after hooking up several months before. Since then, the two were said to have become inseparable.

Seconds later, the shaking stopped abruptly, causing Yukimura to stumble and land hard on his backside on the stone floor. He stood up and dusted himself off as he looked around for Sanada. The little dog emerged from his hiding place under the bed after Yukimura called for him and they went out to see what sort of structural damage would need to be fixed, or if they were even anywhere close to where the house originally sat.

When they emerged from the cottage, Yukimura’s jaw dropped as he took in the spectacular view before him. They were definitely nowhere near their original location. The Child of God had never seen anything so beautiful. Everywhere that grass peeked through around the numerous flower beds it was a luscious, dark emerald green. Growing _in_ the flower beds was every flower imaginable, plus some that Rikkai’s tennis captain and flower enthusiast had never seen before.

Dozens of strong trees stood tall around the little village that he was just noticing was there. The trees shaded every single little house while producing beautiful, delectable looking fruit. Several were actually growing _through_ some of the houses, with the tops of their trunks fanning out above the rooftops.

Yukimura held in a snicker to himself as he suddenly thought about what Niou would say. The trickster would have surely commented something like, “Yukimura, I don’t think we’re in Kanagawa anymore.”

As Yukimura and Sanada stood admiring the scenery, several small people started to wander past. All the while, they whispered to each other and pointed at the strange blue haired man and his furry little companion. The town’s inhabitants weren’t as small as any little people that he had ever seen. Their stature was more like some of the 7th graders that every team used as their lackeys during practice and called it “training”.

While he watched the other citizens, one of the little men scurried over them. He had a slight cowlick to his hair and he had a definite uni-brow that stretched across his forehead. The little man looked vaguely familiar but Yukimura just couldn’t place him.

The little man had a harried look to him as he addressed Yukimura, “Um. Excuse sir, who are you?”

Yukimura smiled as he bowed and introduced himself. “Hello, my name is Yukimura Seiichi. This is my friend, Sanada” he said, gesturing to the little dog.  
“So, are you a good warlock or a bad warlock?” the little man asked.

The blue haired man was taken aback as he answered, “Neither. I am not a warlock at all!”

Another little man, this one wearing his solid black hair in a bowl cut, ran up and asked, pointing to Sanada, “Well, then is _that_ the warlock?”  
“No! Neither of us are warlocks,” Yukimura said, starting to get annoyed.

A third little man ran up and joined the other two. His hair was dark and shaved close to his head. Seeing them together, Yukimura realized they looked like the three first year students that followed Seigaku’s team everywhere.

The third man pointed behind Yukimura as he said, “You must be a warlock. Only a warlock could have killed the Wicked Witch of the East.”

Yukimura turned and looked to where the little man was pointing. Under the corner of the house that they had been standing in moments before, a pair of feet, clad in bright red socks and silver heels, was sticking out from under the foundation. Rikkai’s captain noticed a glimmer of more red next to the feet, but couldn’t see enough to know exactly what was sparkling in the sunlight.

Before Yukimura could say anything about it, he heard giggling erupting from behind him. He turned to see what the laughter was about and he saw a large blue bubble floating towards them. It touched down nearby and when it popped a figure stood in its place.

The man standing there wore topaz colored robes draped around his slender figure. A small gold crown resembling the ones that he had seen in pictures of Julius Caesar and other Ancient Roman rulers rested on his shoulder length silver locks. The man carried with him a silver tennis racket that was encrusted with small aquamarine gems spaced about 1 inch apart around the outer edge.

“Where is the person responsible for this?” he asked with a definite air of arrogance and annoyance about him like someone had disturbed him from his afternoon beauty nap.  
The little people all around the courtyard turned and pointed to Yukimura who once again bowed and introduced himself and Sanada.

“I am Atobe Keigo, the Good Warlock of the North,” the man said. 

Go figure, not only did the strange man look and act like Hyoutei’s diva of a captain; they even shared the same name, thought Yukimura. However, Yukimura figured that since he was in this odd, foreign land, he should keep his mouth shut. After all, this man could be nothing like the Atobe back home, especially if this new Atobe was a warlock.  
“Ore-sama would like to thank you. You have freed these kind people from the control of the Witch of the East.”

Before Yukimura could explain that it was just an accident and that he didn’t mean to kill anyone, a loud _BOOM_ erupted from the far end of the courtyard, followed by a large puff of deep, purple smoke. When the smoke cleared, a small man who was only slightly taller than the town’s inhabitants stood glaring around at the little men and women of the village who looked absolutely terrified.

Yukimura turned and asked Warlock Atobe in a whisper, “Who is that?”

Atobe whispered back, “That’s Kite Eishirou. He’s the Warlock that controls the West. His temper is worse than the cruelty of his sister.”

When the blue haired captain heard the name, he realized why the other warlock looked familiar. Kite was small and very muscular, like his twin in Okinawa. He wore frameless glasses and his hair was slicked back neatly on his head with one unruly clump of hairs that hung down in his face. He wore tight, dark blue, almost black, denim jeans and a white t-shirt that was covered by an unzipped leather jacket. He too carried a silver tennis racket with the exception that his was adorned with three perfectly round amethysts across the top edge of the metal.

“Who did it?” Kite snarled. When none of the cowering villagers answered, he became even more enraged. “Damn it. WHO KILLED MY SISTER?!” he shouted through the silent city.  
Atobe cleared his throat and the darker version of Kite turned his attention to the other man.

“Kite, please mind your language.”

Kite glared at the other warlock for a second before finally realizing that Yukimura was standing there. “Who the hell are you?” he asked, pointing his racket at the boy as he walked towards them. “I bet you know who did it don’t you?”

Once again, Yukimura bowed as he introduced himself and said politely, “My name is Yukimura Seiichi. I’m very sorry for your loss. I’m also sorry to say that it was I who killed your sister. But I promise you that it was an accident.”

Kite looked like he was either about to burst a blood vessel or set Yukimura ablaze as he glared at him. “You? You killed her?” He looked Yukimura up and down before suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter as he added, “You couldn’t have possibly killed anyone! I can tell with your little bow, that you are too much of a ‘gentleman’ to kill anyone. No, I’m sure it had to be one of these damn Ichinens, they may be small minded but they have enough numbers to try to cover it up and defend each other.”

Yukimura was starting to become even more annoyed by this arrogant man who looked like Tezuka Kunimitsu’s new boyfriend than he was with the Atobe back home. No one had ever called him a gentleman just because he was being polite and properly introducing himself out of respect and tradition to all the new people that he met.

Atobe interrupted Kite’s laughter by asking, “Kite, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Kite slowly stopped his laughter before he went silent as realization dawned on him and he turned to Yukimura’s house. As they stood there watching, a bright glimmer of silver burst out and Yukimura suddenly felt something heavy in his hand. When he looked down, he was holding a silver tennis racket. Like Atobe’s and Kite’s rackets, it was encrusted with gems. This one had four rubies, one on top and one on the bottom as well as one on either side. Yukimura realized that the glimmer of red that he noticed under the house earlier must have been coming from the jewels as he didn’t see the glimmering from under the house anymore.

“Give it back,” Kite said calmly. Almost too calmly for Yukimura’s liking. Then, he raised his voice menacingly to say, “Damn it Atobe, give that back! It’s of no use to him and it’s not your decision of who carries it.”

“I’m sorry Kite, but Yukimura-kun now wields the racket and he shall keep it.”

Kite moved as if to try to take the racket from Yukimura by force but as soon as the leather clad warlock stepped closer, the racket in the tennis captain’s hand suddenly started to vibrate as it created a bubble around him. The bubble was not unlike the one that Atobe had floated down into the town in, except it was a deep red color, similar to the rubies that created it. The protective force field surrounded Yukimura and Sanada, who had been sitting at his boyfriend’s feet the entire time, and expanded out. When it reached Kite, it knocked him down onto his ass before disappearing completely.

The other warlock glared up at Yukimura before snapping his fingers and disappearing as quickly as he had come. After he was gone, Kite’s disembodied voice rang out through the courtyard saying, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!”


	2. Chapter 2

An hour after their encounter with Kite, Yukimura and Sanada were trekking down a road that looked and felt like it was made of a similar green astro turf that covered Rikkais’ tennis courts.

Atobe had suggested that they go see some sort of wizard at the other end of the green road in a place called the Sapphire City. They were told that this “wizard” would be able to get them home again. Yukimura had to admit that he was amazed. This Atobe was absolutely nothing like the diva back home. While they may have seemed to have the same arrogance, Warlock Atobe was seemingly much nicer.

They had been walking along for what Yukimura guessed was about two hours when they suddenly came to a halt at a crossroads. One of the fields opposite them had been allowed to grow wild and the flowers in it blossomed and tangled however they wanted in a fight to get the sun. The field on the other side was full of cattails, though Yukimura could see no water beyond them. Oddly enough, the batch of cattails had a scarecrow hanging in the middle of it. As nothing would want to eat the cattails, this was a bit of a puzzle and would probably also explain the surly look on the scarecrow’s face. The man of straw, or whatever he was made of, would probably have been happier to guard the field of corn that they could see in the distance beyond the cattails.

As the pair drew nearer, they could see that the scarecrow’s black hair was covered by a green bandana with small black designs on it. From the distance that they stood, the exact design couldn’t be made out. They could see, however, that he was dressed in a black long-sleeved coat made of a coarse weave material and white pants that looked as if they were made of the same material as the tennis shorts that Rikkai and most other teams wore. His feet were hidden by the plants around him, but something about the rest of his outfit made Yukimura sure that he would be in tennis shoes as well. Uneasily, they approached him, jumping back when his head came up and he hissed at them.

“Well, Sanada, which way do you suppose we go now?” Yukimura asked, shaking off the hissing as just a result of the heat and his empty stomach as he sat down on a nearby rock. The little dog simply ambled over and sat directly in front of his boyfriend and just stared at him. Yukimura sighed as he added, “I know, you can’t answer me. I just still haven’t gotten used to the idea of you not being able to do more than bark.”

Out of nowhere, a gruff voice rang through the empty fields, “It’s pretty nice down that way.”

Yukimura looked around frantically but the only thing even resembling a person was the scarecrow. Now that he looked at the straw man, he did a double take. Was it just him, or was the scarecrow now pointing towards the path to their left? Maybe the hissing wasn’t just in his imagination after all.

Sanada started to growl at the scarecrow so Yukimura reassured him, “Don’t be silly Genichirou, scarecrows can’t talk.”

However, while he was standing there watching it, the scarecrow put his left arm down and lifted his right arm up as he said in the same gruff voice from before, “It’s pleasant down that way too.” Yukimura’s mouth fell open as the scarecrow lifted his left hand back up and crossed his arms to say, “Of course some people do go both ways.”

“Wha…It _was_ you,” Yukimura finally managed to say.

“Yea, it was. Now would you mind helping me out here?” the scarecrow asked as he pointed to the post from which he was hanging. “It’s kind of tiring being stuck up here all day long.”

Yukimura, still slightly in shock from hearing a scarecrow speaking, somehow managed to get his feet to move forward as he nodded and went around to the back of the post. At the top of the plank, sticking straight out of the wood at the height that would have been right in the middle of the scarecrow’s shoulder blades was a rather large, thick, rusting nail. Yukimura reached up and wiggled the nail slightly, making the scarecrow promptly fall off the post and into a heap of straw and clothes. The blue haired man from Japan let out a small squeak of surprise as he went to help the other man stand up and stuff the fallen straw back into his clothes.

Once he was standing, the scarecrow turned at said, “Thanks. Now, who are you? I’ve never seen anyone with blue hair walking in these parts of the country.”

With Kite’s mocking still in his mind, Yukimura decided to forgo his usual bow as he said, “My name is Yukimura Seiichi, and this is my friend Sanada Genichirou. We are on our way to the Sapphire City. We were told that the Wizard that lives there could help return us to Japan before the National Tennis Tournament.”

“I don’t know what Japan or tennis is but do you think this wizard would help me too if I asked him?”

The scarecrow didn’t elaborate on what his specific reasoning for wanting to see the powerful man that the Wizard supposedly was but Yukimura didn’t press him either. He usually wasn’t the one to pry into other people’s problems. But, the more the merrier, he thought as he replied, “I don’t see why not. But, do you perhaps have a name? I’d much prefer to not call you ‘Mr. Scarecrow’ for the rest of our journey.”

The straw man looked crestfallen as he said, “I don’t. The farmer who made me must have forgotten to give me a name.”

Yukimura thought for a second before realizing, “Well then, I will give you name. You remind me of a rival tennis team’s member from back home. So, I shall call you Kaidoh.”  
The scarecrow’s face lit up with excitement of being given what he thought was such an excellent name. 

While they stood there, a sunbeam peeked through the white fluffy clouds above them and shone down on Yukimura. The light made one of the rubies on the racket sparkle. Kaidoh pointed to the racket that Yukimura was still holding and asked in amazement, “What is that?”

The tennis captain had almost forgotten about Atobe’s gift. He lifted the racket up and swung it a few times, cutting through the air and causing a whooshing sound. Kaidoh watched with his eyes lit up. “It was a gift from Atobe, the Good Warlock of the North. It belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East. Atobe gave it to me to keep it from her brother after my house accidentally landed on the Witch. Kite wasn’t too happy when he realized that I now have it. Also, I’ll warn you now before you decide to come with me that I’m sure he’s following me and I don’t know what he may try to do to get the racket back.”

Kaidoh perked up with determination as he said, “I’m not afraid of any warlock. I’m not afraid of anything!” He thought for a second before adding, “Except a lighted match. Fire and I don’t get along to well what with me being made of such a flammable substance.”

Yukimura nodded in understanding. Then, after realizing that they had lingered long enough, he, Sanada, and their new friend Kaidoh the scarecrow continued their journey to the Sapphire City to recruit the wizard’s help.

~~~~~

Several hours later, the sun was starting to set. Yukimura knew that they couldn’t continue in such an unfamiliar place once it got dark and he was starting to wonder what they were going to do for shelter for the night when they rounded a corner and the trees around them opened up to a clearing off to their right. Inside the clearing, a small cottage was nestled in the middle.

The house was made of grey and brown stone with a thatched roof. A stone pathway made of what looked like the same stones as the house led from the road up to the front door. Around the clearing, the grass was overgrown with weeds, making them realize that no one had lived there in quite a while. 

As they approached the cabin, the group tried looking in the windows but they were either covered with so much grime that they couldn’t see inside or the weeds had grown up past the bottom ledge that they would have had to move them to see in. But they were full of small spikes that even Kaidoh didn’t want to mess with them. When they moved to the door, they could tell that their original thought of the cottage’s lack of inhabitance was apparently longer than they had thought. The wooden door was hanging half off its rusty, crumbling hinges and looked as if it may fall completely off at any time.

Yukimura pushed gingerly on the fragile wood and watched as it swung in slowly but still stayed intact and attached to the frame. The inside of the one room cottage was equally as grimy as the windows. In one end sat a modestly sized fireplace with a small stack of old, crumbling wood still sitting next to it. In the other sat a single folded futon. When Yukimura inspected it, it looked as if it hadn’t been slept in for quite some time. A layer of dust that looked like it was at least several inches thick, stretched across the earthen floor.

There was no food or other furniture, or anything to be found in the cottage. So, Kaidoh volunteered to go out into the woods around the cottage to find some sort of sustenance for the blue haired boy and his dog after gathering some fresh wood. Twenty minutes after cleaning out the fireplace and loading it with the fresh wood, Yukimura had just gotten the fire lit and was coaxing it into a bigger size when Kaidoh returned with his arms full of apples. The tennis captain was surprised that the straw man had gathered so many. But, he was thankful that at least they didn’t have to go to bed on an empty stomach.

After they ate, Yukimura pulled the futon over closer to the fire for warmth. He wished he would have thought to grab his tennis jacket as they went out the door as they found themselves in this strange land. But, the fire was giving off enough warmth that he didn’t really need it. So, the blue haired man stretched out on the worn, slightly grungy futon and drifted off to sleep with Sanada curled up next to him.

In the morning, Yukimura let Sanada out to do his morning business while he put out what was left of the fire that Kaidoh had surprisingly kept up during the night so that it kept the cottage warm for his new friends. Moments after Sanada went out the door, the little dog started barking. When Yukimura and Kaidoh finally found him, the hound was standing about three feet away from what looked like a statue of a man.

The figure was leaning against a tall, thick trunked tree. It had the form of a young man with spiky platinum hair and a rattail that hung over one shoulder. The extension of hair was almost completely hidden against the silver of the shirt that he had on over a white tank top. His grey jeans were tucked into silver boots and a band of silver that looked like the weighted wristbands that his team wore, encircled each wrist. What puzzled Yukimura the most was the faint silver sheen that seemed to glow over what would have been his bare skin.

As Yukimura stood watching and thinking to himself that a weird, silver Niou statue was just what his adventure needed, the statue suddenly blinked. By now, Yukimura wasn’t completely surprised that the guy wasn’t actually made of stone but instead was what he supposed could be some sort of humanoid. Granted that just made his joy of not only having met an Atobe who was a warlock, a Kaidoh scarecrow _and_ the pissed off Kite that was probably following him increase tenfold. Now there was a silver skinned Niou too. Yukimra was starting to wonder exactly what sort of land this was.

“That’s illogical,” the blue haired boy muttered as me moved slowly closer. “No one glows silver.”

“It’s called glitter,” the strange, silver boy said, not looking at him. “Who are you?”

“Yukimura Seiichi,” he replied pausing, not sure if he wanted to get any closer to someone so obviously crazy. No one should like the color silver so much that they paint their body with it.

“Puri,” he smirked, in true Niou fashion as he finally looked over.

Sanada crept slowly over and sniffed one of his silver boots hesitantly. The boy looked down with a puzzled look on his face.

“What is that?” he asked curiously, pointing to the little dog.

“His name is Sanada. He is a dog. This is Kaidoh,” Yukimura said, gesturing to the scarecrow. “Now that you know all of us, who are _you_?”

The boy looked up and smirked again. “The name’s Niou.” His answer didn’t surprise Yukimura at all but it was helpful to at least know that this strange, silver man was actually called Niou instead of something else.

“So, where are you and your merry little band headed?” he asked.

“The Sapphire City. Sanada and I would like to get home before the National tournament and we were told that the wizard that lives there can help.”  
Niou’s only response was, “Puri.”

Yukimura was growing tired of this silver Niou and his Niou games. So, he said, “Sanada, Kaidoh come on. Niou it was nice meeting you but we need to get moving.”

The blue haired boy started to turn around but Niou said, “Wait, can I go with you? I’m kinda bored and could use some entertainment.”

Yukimura didn’t want to argue so he sighed as he agreed and the four of them made their way back to the Emerald Brick Road – a name which Niou had given it himself – and continued their journey to see the Wizard.

~~~~~

The trees around them seemed to get closer and more silent as they progressed along the Emerald Brick Road. The group moved unconsciously together, except for Niou who was too cool to get worried. They all froze suddenly when a noise emerged from the dark, eerily silent trees as if something was moving towards them. As one the group drew even closer together as a tall figure emerged from the trees.

He was dressed in yellow cotton that fluttered in the breeze that swirled around his legs and lifted the bottom of his shirt slightly. In contrast to the almost blindingly bright yellow outfit, his hair was a deep, dark blue, not unlike Yukimura’s. However, this new man’s hair was wild and frizzy, with two little matching cat ears nestled in it, like birds peeking out of their nest for the first time. The cat man seemed not at all surprised to see the group as he leaned against a tree and winced. He reached behind him and settled his long, bushy blue tail next to his feet.

 _“What kind of person can step on his own tail?”_ Yukimura wondered to himself.

The man looked around at the group and seemed very chipper as he said, “Hello, I’m Chitose Senri. Who are you?”

Before Yukimura could say anything, he noticed Sanada sneaking closer to investigate the strange, blue haired cat man. Chitose noticed this too so he reached down and allowed the little dog to sniff his hand before ruffling the black fur on his head.

Yukimura smiled at how happy the hound looked as he said, “I’m Yukimura Seiichi. This is Kaidoh and Niou. That is Sanada whose belly you are scratching,” he added as he pointed to the small dog that had just rolled over onto his back in front of Chitose.

Chitose looked up, not ceasing his scratching of Sanada’s underside to ask, “So, where are you headed?”

“The Sapphire City. We’re going to go see the Wizard to ask for his help,” Kaidoh said cheerily.

“Huh,” Chitose responded. “Mind if I come too? I’ve never been to the City before and I’m always up for an adventure.”

“Sure, why not?” Yukimura replied. As the five adventurers started on their way again, he thought that he was glad to have made so many new friends that looked like so many rivals of Rikkai that he normally wouldn’t have even associated himself with, other than Niou. Deep down though, he hoped that their little group didn’t get any bigger.


	3. Chapter 3

When they finally emerged from the woods about two hours later, they were nearly blinded by the bright afternoon sunlight. 

They had been walking in the dark gloom of the forest for so long that it took a while for their eyes to adjust. When they could finally see again, Yukimura noticed that he could see the Sapphire City in the distance standing out brilliantly against the emerald green landscape that spread out before them. As close as it looked, they could tell that they would be there well before nightfall.

So, they started on their way again. With every step that they took towards it, the blue sparkle got brighter and more brilliant. The bottom edge of the sun was just starting to disappear below the horizon when they reached the front gates of the Sapphire City.

On either side of the enormous gates, a large, blue marble wall nearly forty feet high, stretched out as far down as they could see. The gates themselves were also made of a beautiful blue marble that almost disappeared into the wall was it not for the large sapphires lining the door frame. Hanging to one side of the gate stretched a long, braided silver rope that looked like it hung straight from the sky and its cords were intertwined with dark blue threads. Yukimura reached up and pulled the rope and they could only faintly hear the tinkle of a bell on the other side of the thick stone. Almost immediately after the tinkling stopped, the door opened before them, revealing the city within.

The winding streets that stretched out from the gate were formed with various shades of blue cobbles that fit snuggly together in one, wide, connected road. Small shops lined either side of the main street before them, each one constructed out of blue bricks or stone with large, plate glass windows displaying the various wares that were sold in each one. In every single one of the stores, the items sold, from clothes to jewelry to even dinnerware were all dyed or crafted from resources that were a deep, sapphire or royal blue. There was even a small cart on the street that was selling what looked like blue kool-aid and a blue colored tea.

Yukimura was actually surprised that the people who were strolling about the city didn’t have hair that matched his and Chitose’s to go along with their varying styles of royal blue clothing. As they passed by the group, many of them started to whisper to one another about the strange blue haired boys and their even stranger friends. Yukimura assumed that that was probably the result of their sort of Wildman look from traveling on foot for several days.

Suddenly, out from between the wandering city folk, a tall man, dressed in a dark blue, almost black pinstriped suit with small, black rimmed glasses and shoulder length blue hair that was actually darker than Yukimura’s, strolled up to the group. Yukimura wasn’t surprised to find yet another rival look-a-like in the city.

The man bowed deeply as he said in a deep, seductive kansai-ben, “Hello, and welcome to the Sapphire City. My name is Oshitari Yuushi. I am the interterm Gaurdian of the Gate. Are you visiting the city for business or pleasure?”

Glad to find someone who appreciated the formal customs of greeting someone; Yukimura bowed deeply in return and introduced their group.

“My name is Yukimura Seiichi. These are my friends Kaidoh, Niou, Chitose and Sanada. Atobe, the Good Warlock of the North, sent us to ask the Wizard to help Sanada and me get back home. My friends also wish to ask him for help.”

Oshitari thought for a moment before responding, “Well, usually no one is allowed to see the Wizard. But if Atobe really did send you, perhaps he will make an exception. Do you have any proof?”

Yukimura thought for a second, trying to figure out how to prove to Oshitari that Atobe had indeed been the one to send him to the Sapphire City. Suddenly, he remembered the silver racket that he had been carrying with him all this time. He reached up and pulled the racket from where it hung on his back -Chitose had given him a long string to tie onto the racket so that he didn’t have to carry it any longer. The blue haired Child of God untied the handle and presented it to Oshitari.

“I have the racket that belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East. Atobe gave it to me to protect it from her brother after my house accidently landed on the Witch.”

Upon seeing the racket, Oshitari’s eyes widened. He paused again as he presumably was trying to decide what to do. After several seconds of silence, he came to a decision and told the travelers, “Very well. I will take you to the Wizard. However, first I will take you somewhere where you can get freshened up a bit and rest. I will request that the Wizard sees you in the morning.”

Yukimura was frustrated with this answer. He didn’t really want to have to wait another night in this strange land before he could get back home to Japan and his team. But, he nodded and allowed the Interterm Gaurdian to lead them down the cobblestone street and into the heart of the city to the palace where the Wizard resided. Inside, they were each led to different rooms where a servant, dressed in navy slacks and a blue polo shirt, came and asked for their dinner order. When Yukimura asked what sort of food could be made, he was assured that the royal chef could prepare anything that Yukimura wanted.

As soon as the servant left, a small team of servants came in and started fussing over Yukimura. He wasn’t used to having people dote over him so much. After they ran a bathtub full of deep, crystal blue water, they started to try undressing the tennis captain. Yukimura however was going to have none of that so he thanked them for their help and dismissed them. As they left the blue haired boy and his little dog, Yukimura couldn’t tell if they were crestfallen that they were sent away without doing their job or happy that they could perhaps take a break before reporting back to whoever they reported to.

It wasn’t unusual for Yukimura to take a bath with his vice-captain and boyfriend. However, since Sanada’s “accident”, they hadn’t been in a situation where the tub was big enough for the little dog to splash and swim around at the same time that Yukimura was trying to bathe. Thus, it took a few minutes to get used to trying to work around the joyfully swimming hound.

After they felt thoroughly cleaned, Yukimura wrapped himself in the large, fluffy blue cotton robe that was left hung on the door. He pulled Sanada out of the water and dried him as best he could before grabbing a fresh, dry towel and wrapping his friend in it so that he didn’t drip water on the floor as he carried the dog out of the bathroom.

When they entered back into the bedroom, a small table had been set up with a tray of the food that Yukimura had asked for resting on it. A bowl of what looked like a steak that had been cut up into small pieces sat on the floor with a bowl of clear blue water next to it for Sanada. On the bed, what looked like an exact duplicate of the outfit that he had been wearing when he landed in the strange land was laying out on the bed along with a pair of sapphire silk pajamas.

Once they finished their exceedingly delicious dinner, Yukimura pulled on the silk pajama pants but left the shirt off. He was already rather warm and he knew that if he put on the shirt it would just make him more so. Besides, the only one in the room was Sanada and when the little dog was human, he had seen a lot more of Yukimura than just his tennis toned abdomen.

Rikkai’s tennis captain and vice-captain climbed into the large bed, which was covered in smooth silk sheets that matched his pajamas, and the two friends from Japan promptly fell into a deep slumber.

~~~~~

The next morning, Yukimura was awoken by a knock on the door. He managed to roll out of the overly large bed and shuffle sleepily to the door to see who had woken him. On his way, he grabbed the silk pajama shirt from the floor where it had fallen from the end of the bed and pulled it on so he was at least fully clothed. If they were home, he would have opened the door as the Child of God and incurred his wrath on who ever had DARED to wake him. However, since they weren’t at home, he managed a fairly innocent smile as he opened the door. He was slightly surprised to see Niou standing on the other side with Kaidoh and Chitose flanking him.

“Sorry for waking you, but they said we can go see the Wizard at ten o’clock. It’s almost 9:45 now so we wanted to make sure you were awake.”

“Oh. Well, thank you Niou-kun. You all may come in. If you give me a moment, I will get dressed and we can get started on our way,” he said as he opened the door wider to let the three men in.

No sooner had he stepped through the door, Chitose went over and started playing with Sanada. Yukimura smiled at how much his new friend and his boyfriend were getting along. He grabbed the clothes that had been laid out for him the night before from where he had draped them over one of the chairs and headed into the bathroom to change and freshen himself up.

Ten minutes later, the group of travelers was standing in a waiting room outside a set of overly large double doors, waiting patiently to be welcomed into the Wizard’s chamber. After several minutes of waiting, the doors opened inward and a guard, dressed exactly like the man from the front gate, only this boy wore his silver hair short and spiked, ushered them inside. Just inside the door, he instructed them to go to the end of the long hallway that stretched out before them and the Wizard would see them there.

Once they reached the end of the hall, they noticed that the only thing in the room was an overly large chair that looked like it was made out of the same blue marble as the large front gate to the city. Currently, the chair was unoccupied. Yukimura was starting to wonder where the Wizard could be and how rude he was to have sent for them and then ended up being late. His thoughts were cut off when there was suddenly a bright flash of light and as soon as they could see again, a large figure was now sitting in the chair that Yukimura thought was probably more like a throne than just a chair.

The man that was now sitting there looked fairly human. With the exception of the large, black dragon-like wings that were sprouting from his back. Even sitting the man looked enormous and Yukimura imagined that he must be close to ten feet tall when he was standing. He was dressed in what looked like an even darker sapphire colored pinstriped suit than the man from the gate. However he wore a long silver tie around his neck. The man had dark, spiky gelled hair and black, square framed glasses. If not for the wings, Yukimura was sure that he should know who the man reminded him of from home but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

The others balked at the appearance of the man but Yukimura stood his ground and stood up straight as he started to introduce them. “Hello, Sir Wizard, my name is Yukimura Seiichi…”

“I know who all of you are and why each and every one of you are here,” the Wizard interrupted. He pointed to each of them in turn as he said, “You want to get back home before your precious tennis tournament, Yukimura-kun. You, Niou Masaharu, want to have the heart to tell the man that you love about your true feelings. You, Chitose Senri, also want the courage to be able to express your feelings to your long-time best friend. You, Kaidoh the Scarecrow, wants to know how to stop scaring people by just looking at them. And you, Sanada Genichirou, also want to get home but more than that, you wish to be turned back into a human.”

His last statement to Sanada surprised the others. They had assumed that he also just wanted to go home. They never thought that the little dog was actually human. As they glanced over at him, the Wizard cleared his throat to get their attention again.

“I will grant you these things on one condition. You must kill the Wicked Warlock of the West for me.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Niou scoffed.

“I don’t care how you do it. Just bring me his enchanted tennis racket as proof.”

Before any of them could say another word, there was another blinding flash and the figure on the throne was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel I should give a warning that this chapter contains smut. So there, you have been warned.

After engaging in a rather long debate about whether they should do as the Wizard asked or not the group of friends was now wandering down yet another dark forest path towards where they were told that Kite kept his castle. None of them had even an inkling of an idea of how to beat Kite, so they were apprehensive about taking on the task but in the end they decided to give it a shot if that was what it was going to take for the Wizard to help them.

While they walked, Yukimura explained to them about Inui Sadaharu and his special juices that sometimes had strange side effects.

“So, after accepting a cup of whatever it was, Sanada managed to wander home and when he woke up the next morning, he was in his current form. Our fellow teammate, Yanagi Renji is a good friend of Inui-kun and has been working with him to find an antidote. But, so far they haven’t had any luck. Honestly, I’m rather hesitant that this wizard can fix him when even Inui hasn’t found a cure yet. But, part of me is hopeful that Sanada will be back to normal as soon as we get this over with. I truly miss my vice-captain in his true form. Our team just doesn’t feel the same during practice without him being there to watch over everyone and occasionally calling out a reprimand to someone who isn’t performing their best.”

They were all quiet for a moment and none of them noticed that Niou’s mouth curved into a smirk.

~~~~~

Several hours later, the group was heading back to the Sapphire City. Kite’s racket was now tied with his sister’s across Yukimura’s back. The task hadn’t been as hard as they all thought. Yukimura had challenged Kite to a game of tennis using the Witch’s enchanted racket, the deal being that if Yukimura won, they got Kite's racket and if Kite won, he could have his sister's racket. Yukimura neglected to tell the warlock that if he won that would mean Kite would be dead. After several minutes, they all figured that Yukimura wouldn’t have even needed the magic racket though. He unleashed what he called the Child of God and with his last smash, the tennis ball zoomed toward Kite before lodging in head, killing the warlock instantly.  
“Yukimura, I’ve never seen anyone play tennis like that,” Chitose commented as they ventured back to the Sapphire City.

“It wasn’t anything _that_ special,” Niou retorted quietly.

Yukimura was tempted to stop where they were and challenge Niou to a game to prove him wrong but he knew that it was just a petenshi being a petenshi. So, he held his tongue and instead told Chitose, “Thank you Chitose-kun. No one has ever been able to beat the Kami no Ko. Not even Sanada.”

Yukimura purposely neglected to tell them about the upset at National Tournament in middle school when that brat from Seigaku got lucky because the blue haired captain swore that that would not happen this year, or any other year, hence all the extra training.

When they finally reached the Sapphire City, Oshitari greeted them again and asked them again to wait until the next morning to see the Wizard as it was starting to get late. So off they went, again to their separate rooms, to get some rest until the next morning when Yukimura could finally get home.

This time though, Chitose managed to convince Yukimura to let Sanada stay with him so that the cat man could play with the little dog before they went to bed. He would have thought that a part cat and a dog wouldn’t get along even if the hound had originally been a human himself. But something about their relationship intrigued Yukimura because Sanada just seemed so happy around Chitose. Also, Yukimura hadn’t seemed to feel the need to play with Sanada because he still thought of the little hound as his serious, hardworking vice-captain and lover and not as a little dog that may like to be played with every once in a while. So he figured that Sanada would enjoy some time of play before they returned home.

After hearing Yukimura agree to Chitose’s request, knowing that that meant the beautiful Japanese man would be alone that night Niou smirked. Again, unbeknownst to the rest of the group. So, Chitose and Sanada went to their room, leaving Yukimura to a room to himself down the hall. 

Later that evening, after Yukimura had bathed and had just settled into his bed, he heard the door open. When he sat up to see who it was, he was surprised to see Niou standing with his back against the wood just staring a Yukimura with an obvious smirk on his face.

“Niou-kun, what are you doing in here?” Yukimura asked in a whisper. He was pretty sure the stone walls were thick enough to not bring attention to Kaidoh, whose room was on the other side of the wall, but he felt it was better to be safe and try to be as quiet as possible so the scarecrow that didn’t need to sleep wouldn’t bring the noises up the next day, making Sanada suspicious.

Niou didn’t respond to Yukimura’s question. Instead, the silver and glitter covered boy reached behind him and locked the door before walking over to the bed, pulling the sheet up and crawling under it to get closer to the blue haired tennis captain.

“Niou-kun please. Don’t…” he tried to say as his thought was cut off and the silver petenshi crushed his lips onto Yukimura’s. The tennis captain tried to push the other man away but when Niou swiped his tongue across the other’s lips, Yukimura moaned and parted his lips instinctively. He hadn’t necessarily wanted to allow the kiss to be deepened but it had just been so long since he had been intimate with Sanada that part of him was almost glad for Niou’s visit.

The silver petenshi broke the kiss as he moved to plant kisses along the blue haired man’s jaw and down his neck. As he did this, he slid his hand up Yukimura’s bare, tanned, and tennis toned chest - as he had again decided to just wear the silk pajama pants to bed. Niou’s thumb ghosted over a nipple and Yukimura’s spine arched up off the bed. The silver man smirked against the chest below him as his mouth replaced the thumb and his hand slid down to rub over the blue silk pants, his smirk growing into an almost maniacal grin when he felt that the blue haired man was already getting hard.

Niou pulled the silk pajama pants down, exposing the ever growing erection that stood out against the patch of curly blue hair. He pressed his lips lightly to the tip and his tongue swiped over the slit, making Yukimura moan as his long, thin fingers snaked into silver locks and pulled slightly. Niou’s mouth engulfed the Japanese boy’s length slowly before he started licking and sucking on it.

The silver haired humanoid kept this up for several minutes before Yukimura felt that familiar tension building in his body and he came violently in Niou’s mouth. He swallowed every last drop that Yukimura offered him before repositioning himself so that he was kneeling between Yukimura’s slender legs so that the other man’s small, puckered hole was visible.  
Niou pulled the bottle of lotion that he had brought with him out of his pocket and poured a gratuitous amount on his fingers before circling Yukimura’s entrance a few times and pushing his index finger slowly into the other boy. As he did this, he pressed small kisses on Yukimura’s legs to distract him from any pain that he may cause.

“Have you ever been taken by another man, Yukimura?” Niou asked between the pressing of his lips to Yukimura’s milky white skin.

Yukimura shook his head and said with a small squeak as another finger was added and starting moving against the other, “No. Sanada was always afraid that he would hurt me with his size. That, and I’ve never really felt the desire to let someone else be inside me. I suppose that was just part of the captain in me that insists on being the dominate one in everything.”

Niou smirked again as he said, “Hmm. That’s good. Then I get to be your first. I can’t guarantee that you won’t be sore by morning but I promise that I will do everything to make it as enjoyable as possible.”

Niou attached his lips to Yukimura’s balls as he added a third finger to start opening the virgin ass for what he was about to do to it. As he did, Yukimura wanted to tell Niou that his promise to make it enjoyable was already being kept as the silver man stretched him because he had definitely never felt this amazing feeling with Sanada. But, he was so lost in the feeling of Niou’s tongue on his testicles and cock that all words escaped him. Several moments of finger-scissoring later, Niou sat up and looked at Yukimura. “Are you ready, Yukimura?”

All the blue haired man could do was nod as he watched the other man guide his achingly hard, dripping, silver erection into position outside Yukimura’s ass. He was afraid that Niou wouldn’t be as swift as the older man wanted so he lifted his hips slightly and pushed forward so that the silver man slid into Yukimura’s tight heat with a groan.

Niou leaned down and crushed his lips onto the blue haired man’s while he allowed the slender body to adjust to having someone inside him. After a moment, Yukimura didn’t _want_ to wait any longer so when they broke their kiss for some much needed air, he pulled Niou’s head down with his fingers still tangled in the silver locks and growled in his ear, “Just move.”

The silver man may have admitted that the growl scared him slightly, but part of him wanted to just fuck Yukimura deep into the mattress and not care how the other man felt in the morning. So, the part that wasn’t concerned with being so gentle convinced his body to pull out almost completely before slamming hard back into the blue haired man below him. He kept doing this, gradually speeding his pace and hardening his thrusts as time passed. The change in pace made Yukimura move one of his hands out from Niou’s silver spikes so that he could bite down on it to keep quiet.

After several minutes of pounding inside Yukimura, Niou’s thrusts became even quicker before he stilled completely so that he could cum inside the smaller body. When he had released all he could, Niou looked down and realized that Yukimura was still hard. Instead of doing the obvious of just jerking Yukimura off, the good part of the petenshi’s mind that didn’t want to hurt the frail looking boy, regained control as he thought of what to do.

That good part of him forced his body to pull out of Yukimura’s ass and position himself above his new friend’s erection. Yukimura looked up at Niou puzzled before the silver man slid down, swiftly filling himself with Yukimura’s length. The feeling of having his cock so deep inside someone else again caused the blue haired boy to allow his hand to fall out of his mouth as he moaned loudly into the quiet room, not caring if Kaidoh heard him or not.

It didn’t take long after Niou started rotating his hips around on Yukimura’s erection before he wrapped slender fingers on the silver hips, keeping him in place so that he could climax hard inside the petenshi’s body. Niou milked Yukimura for all he was worth before falling off of his new lover’s spent member and laying down beside him on the bed. Yukimura sat up slightly so that Niou could stretch his arm out and allow him to rest his sweat soaked blue locks on a silver shoulder before both men fell asleep.

~~~~~

In the morning, Yukimura awoke very alone and very naked in his bed. He lay there, thinking for a moment about why he had no clothes on as he was sure he had been wearing the silk pajama bottoms when he went to bed. Then he noticed that his ass and the sheets around it seemed sticky. After a moment of thought, he remembered what happened the night before. 

He recalled that Niou had visited him and they had engaged in the best sex that he had ever had. Yukimura sat up in the large bed and found the silver skinned twin of Niou sitting at the small table and sipping a cup of coffee as he watched the blue haired boy with a smirk planted on his face.

“Ohayo, Seiichi. I ordered breakfast and it should be here any minute. So, you may want to put some clothes on.”

Yukimura reached his arms above his head as he stretched with a yawn. As he did, he noticed Niou unconsciously move his hand down below the table to rub at his groin while his eyes scanned the Kami no Ko’s slim body. The older man smiled to himself as he climbed out of bed and went to the spacious bathroom to get dressed. Once inside, as he started to pull his clothes on, he had a startling realization. His ass didn’t hurt as he moved like he expected it to after being taken by Niou. He had remembered hearing from Yanagi that the first time he had let Inui be the top his body was sore most of the next day which was why he hadn’t been at school or practice which had been so unusual for the dataman that Yukimura had practically force his friend to tell him what had happened. Now though, he only felt a little soreness from what he supposed was the stretching. It was almost as if his body was built just for someone the size of Niou to fill it and any more would have torn him in two.

With this new discovery, the blue haired man couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he tried the same thing with the Niou at home. Yukimura made a promise to himself to secretly test his hypothesis when he returned. If the sex was just as amazing as it was with the strange, silver boy in the other room, he would just have to let Sanada go. 

He wouldn’t feel too much remorse about it either he assured himself. Especially since he knew that his vice-captain was apparently attracted to their team’s baby demon. Yukimura had heard Sanada pleasuring himself to a mantra of the younger boy’s name instead of the captain’s several times. He also couldn’t miss the way that Sanada would glance at Akaya during practice with what Yukimura could only describe as a look of longing mixed with concern whenever Akaya would unleash his inner demon.

As he emerged from the bathroom, a red headed servant was just disappearing out the door and Niou was sitting a tray of bowls full of more of the delicious local food on the small table. Without thinking, Yukimura walked over and as soon as Niou had sat the tray down, he took a silver cheek in his hand to turn the petenshi’s face to his as he pressed their lips together. Yukimura could feel Niou’s smirk as they kissed before the silver man pulled away and waved a hand towards the food. He told the blue haired man that they needed to eat before going to meet with the Wizard and give him the proof that Kite was dead.

Just as they finished eating, they heard a knocking on the door. Niou answered it and Yukimura just could see past the shorter man to notice Chitose’s surprise when the silver man opened the door. He ushered the wild cat man, Kaidoh and Sanada into the room and Yukimura was surprised that none of their friends asked why Niou was answering his door.

Once they were all assembled, the group of travelers headed out to see the Wizard. Yukimura walked with the Wicked Witch’s racket hung across his back while he carried Kite’s in his hand. When they entered the Wizard’s chamber, they once again found themselves standing in the empty room. A loud bang erupted in the silent room accompanied by a bright flash before the Wizard appeared suddenly in the blue marble chair.

Yukimura stepped forward and held out the silver racket encrusted with bright amethysts. “We have done what you asked and have defeated Kite, the Warlock of the West. Here is his enchanted racket as proof of his death.”

The large figure of the Wizard nodded once before saying, “I thank you for your hard work. However, I haven’t decided whether to help you or not. So, please come back tomorrow and I should have made my decision by then.” With those words, there was another flash and the Wizard was gone.

The group of friends didn’t know what to do. They looked at each other with puzzled and crestfallen looks on their faces.

“What do we do now? Chitose asked.

“I don’t know. We killed Kite like he asked. The bastard promised to help us if we did that and brought the racket to him,” Yukimura said, trying his hardest not to either cry or blow a gasket in frustration.

Suddenly, Sanada started barking. When the group turned to look at what he saw, they noticed that the little dog was barking at a door that they didn’t remember seeing before.  
Yukimura stepped forward with the other three men close behind him. He reached for the handle on the door and turned it slowly. When he opened the door, they all froze in surprise by what was on the other side.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter containing smut.

Just on the other side of the door stood a man. He was the spitting image of the Wizard, albeit normal height and sans the giant dragon wings. When he noticed his door was opened, the look of surprise that was planted on his face matched the one on Yukimura’s and his friends.

“Wha…I…” the man stammered. He hung his head as he collected himself and said, “Well, I commend you, Yukimura-tachi. You have figured out that the Wizard is a fraud.”  
“So, who are you then?” Niou asked.

“My name is Inui Sadaharu. I’m a… chemist of sorts. I created an elixir that would make a person grow wings, not unlike the ones that my illusion bore. However, when I tested it out and set out flying, I lost my way and by the time the elixir had worn off, I found myself here. Unfortunately, I had left my notebook back in my lab and I couldn’t remember what had gone in to the mixture so, I was stuck. As I landed, the good people in this town saw me with my wings. Thus, they thought that I was some sort of great wizard to have been able to fly and then make my wings disappear instantly. So, they asked me to stay and protect them.”

“So…you can’t help us?” Kaidoh asked, crestfallen.

“On the contrary, I _can_ help you. All of you. Kaidoh-kun, all you need to do in order to stop scaring people is to try smiling more. That surly expression on your face is what scares people away.”

Kaidoh looked at the Wizard for a moment before his face became twisted up in concentration. Before they knew it, the scarecrow was smiling and he truly did look exceedingly more pleasant.

The Wizard turned to Chitose and said, “Chitose, I will give you something that will help you find the courage you need to tell your best friend about your true feelings.”

As he spoke, the man turned around and started pulling something out of a drawer. When he turned back to face the group, he held a small bag of what looked like some sort of green herb to the others. Yukimura however knew exactly what it was. The Wizard handed the bag of pot and a small stack of thin papers to Chitose and the cat man looked at him quizzically.

“Take one of the papers, place some of the green substance in it, and roll it up. Then, light the end of it and smoke it like a cigarette. It may take a few seconds for you to get used to its effects but I assure you that when you are, you will have all the courage you need to tell your friend how you feel.”

He turned to Niou and said with a small smile, “You, Niou Masaharu, no longer need my help. According to one of the night guards that patrol the hallways, you have already found the heart to tell your new friend about your feelings.”

Everyone but Yukimura looked at Niou amazed and confused. The silver haired boy’s only response was, “Puri.”

The Wizard cleared his throat to bring their attention back to him. “As for Sanada, if you give me some time, I can make an elixir that will restore you to your normal form. I had a similar experiment go awry a few years ago with the only exception being that the test subject was turned into a parakeet. The cure however, should be the same with a few minor adjustments.”

“So, what about me?” Yukimura asked. “All those things are simple to fix. But I don’t’ see how you could possibly return Sanada and me back to Japan with smiles or drugs.”

The Wizard thought for a moment before saying, “You are correct, Yukimura-kun. _I_ cannot return you to Japan. However, Atobe does have that power. After I return your friend to normal, you should go visit Atobe in the North. He will surely help you for ridding this land of both its evil entities within a week.”

Yukimura still wasn’t assured by the bespectacled man’s words but he felt hopeful that the magical diva could help him.

~~~~~

Several hours later, Yukimura, Niou, Kaidoh, Chitose and Sanada – now back to his human form – made their way to Atobe’s castle in the Northern country. Inui had sworn them to secrecy about his real identity and all of them agreed to keep quiet about the fraudulent Wizard.

Kaidoh had decided to join them on their journey to see if he could find a job in Atobe’s kingdom since the Wizard had informed him that he unfortunately didn’t have any jobs available for the scarecrow in the Sapphire City and he didn’t want to go back to guarding his patch of cattails. Chitose tagged along because his friend that he was madly in love with, but didn’t have the courage to express those feelings to, worked in the diva’s palace.

Niou hadn’t said why he came along but Yukimura supposed that it was so that he could say good bye to his one night stand. But he was fine with that because the blue haired man hated to say farewell to the silver man before the others. Unbeknownst to the tennis captain, Niou was sad that their relationship couldn’t develop into more. Thankfully, the petenshi hadn’t needed to explain to the rest of the group what the Wizard had meant by his words about the silver man no longer needing his help because everyone was so preoccupied with getting to know the real Sanada.

When they reached the castle, Atobe invited them into his throne room and Yukimura told the diva about what the Wizard had said about the warlock being able to help him and Sanada return to Japan. Upon Inui-san’s request, the blue haired man didn’t mention that the Wizard wasn’t who he claimed to be.

“Hmm. I suppose I could send you and your very handsome friend back. However, it won’t be easy. All the power that I need lies with the silver tennis rackets. Unfortunately, the power of just mine won’t be enough. If all four are together, and gather enough power from say a tennis match, the kinetic energy that builds up from the swinging of the rackets should be enough to send both of you home. Luckily, we do have all four together, in the same building.”

Yukimura was about to ask what the warlock meant since, as far as he knew, they only had Kite’s, his sister’s and Atobe’s that was leaning up against his throne. When Atobe was finished speaking however, a figure appeared from a doorway to Atobe’s left.

The boy that emerged was small, almost like the inhabitants of the Ichinen City. He had a head of jet black hair that he covered with a white baseball cap. The hat was pulled down so that it covered the entire top half of his face. His shirt was a white polo and the shorts he wore were definitely black tennis shorts. Slung on his shoulder, he held a silver racket that matched the other three. This man’s held a single sapphire in the “y” of the handle just before the metal started to widen.

“Mada mada dane,” was all he said as he moved to stand beside Atobe’s chair.

“This is Echizen Ryoma, the Good Warlock of the South. He’s here visiting for a few days in celebration of the defeat of the Kite siblings. We don’t usually play doubles but in this case, I suppose we will have to make an exception. Even though, for all you’ve done for this country, you are perfectly welcome to stay.”

Yukimura thanked Atobe for his offer to stay but he assured the warlock that he desperately wanted to go home. So, the two tennis pros from Japan and the two warlocks, along with Niou, Chitose, Kaidoh and a rather large group of the castle’s inhabitants, gathered around a large tennis court that was set up in the courtyard.

Twenty minutes later, the match was over. Yukimura and Sanada had almost completely dominated the game. Of course when any of the three demons of Rikkai played doubles together, which didn’t happen very often, their opponents didn’t have a chance. Unless they were playing against Echizen apparently, whether at home or here in this strange land. However, that wasn’t what everyone was staring at. As soon as Echizen hit the winning shot into Sanada’s and Yukimura’s half of the court, the gems that rested in all four rackets began to glow the distinct color of the gem itself.

“Hurry and give us the other two rackets,” Atobe told them.

No sooner had Yukimura handed his racket to Atobe and Sanada offered his to Echizen, the light that was being emitted from the rackets came together and shaped itself into a door with each beam forming each edge of the frame. Atobe motioned Rikkai’s captain and vice-captain towards the door of light and the two boys turned and waved good bye to everyone as they stepped through the doorway.

~~~~~

When they stepped through to the other side, the two friends were standing in the bedroom that they had been sharing in the rented cottage. No sooner had they collected their thoughts about where they were, they heard an impatient knock on the door.

“Seiichi, Genichirou, are you all right?” Renji’s voice carried in to them from the other side of the glass door that led outside. Yukimura had forgotten that he had pulled the blind closed on the door before he came in and showered earlier, thus Renji couldn’t see inside the room.

The blue haired man opened the door to find the rest of the team picking themselves and the patio furniture up from around the pool. Renji started when he saw Sanada come to stand behind their captain.

“Genichirou! You’re back to normal!” the team’s dataman exclaimed.

Yukimura interjected before Sanada could say anything by telling their friend, “Yes, it seems the mixture wore off by itself. When I awoke from my nap I not only found the room shaking but I discovered that Genichirou was human again. Renji, is everyone else alright?”

“Yes, Seiichi. It was just a small earthquake, probably around a magnitude of 3.0. Nothing we aren’t used to in Japan. I only heard light crashing coming from the house so Marui and Jackal are inspecting the damage.”

“That’s good,” Yukimura stated as he turned towards his vice-captain. “Genichirou, I’m sure you’d like to stretch your legs some so why don’t you take Yagyuu back to the courts to stretch and do some volleys. Perhaps you can play a quick match while you are there.”

Sanada nodded as he went back into the room and grabbed Yukimura’s tennis bag. He went out past the other two demons to collect Yagyuu, not even bothering to pause and kiss Yukimura good bye.

“Yanagi, I’d like you to take Akaya and help Marui and Jackal with the inspection and clean up. Then, I think that the team has earned a special meal for all their hard work this week. So please ask Marui to start on it. And tell Niou that I’d like to see him. Before I drifted off to sleep before the earthquake, I thought of an illusion I’d like to have him try. So, I’d like to speak to him about it.”

Yanagi nodded once and moments after he had left Yukimura to start cleaning up his room, the blue haired boy looked up and saw Niou standing in the open doorway. Yukimura carried the books that he had in his arms to return them to the shelves that they fallen from as Niou waited patiently.

“Yukimura-buchou, Yanagi said that you wanted to talk to me?”

Yukimura turned from placing the last tome on its shelf as he said, “Yes Niou, please come in and shut the door and blind behind you.”

No sooner had Niou closed the door and pulled the blind over to block the glass and turned around than Yukimura was against him, crushing his lips onto the petenshi’s. When Yukimura pulled away seconds later to start kissing along Niou’s jaw, the trickster finally managed to find his words to ask what the blue haired boy was doing.

“Yukimura-buchou, what are you doing?”

His captain looked up into sea green eyes and said, “I had a thought while I was sleeping, Niou. I was suddenly overcome with the urge to have you. Not just have you but have you take me, like I’ve never let Genichirou do.”

Niou thought for a second before smirking and pushing Yukimura over to the bed and onto it. He landed with a small flop and the petenshi climbed on top of him. The sight of Niou doing this caused Yukimura to get hard almost immediately by just picturing the man on top of him with silver skin and covered in glitter.

The team’s trickster chuckled as he stood back up to strip while Yukimura struggled out of his own clothes while still lying there on the bed. Once all cloth was off his body, Niou knelt down to press his lips to Yukimura’s erection. He took the head in his mouth and much like his silver twin in another world, dipped his tongue into the slit. That action alone was enough to make Yukimura release into Niou’s mouth. When the petenshi let his captain’s cock fall out of his mouth, still aching hard and dripping, his smirk reminded the blue haired boy of a cat that had just been given a whole carton of cream.

“Are you sure about this Seiichi?” Niou asked when Yukimura handed him a bottle of lubricant that he had found in his suitcase before rolling over and propping himself up on his hands and knees to give Niou the perfect view of his ass.

Yukimura moaned hearing Niou call him by his first name, something the trickster had never said before. Or if he did, he never said it as seductively as he did now.

“Yes Masaharu,” Yukimura purred. “I want you inside me and I want you to fuck me into the mattress.”

Niou was startled by Yukimura’s language but hearing his captain say that he wanted the petenshi to fuck him into the mattress just made his own cock even harder. So, Niou didn’t waste another second before flipping open the top of the bottle and pouring the clear, viscous liquid on his fingers. When he pressed two fingers at once inside Yukimura’s tight hole, the older man cried out.

Niou reached a hand around to cover his captain’s mouth before saying, “Shh, Seiichi. You don’t want the others to hear us do you? Besides, I want to hurry in case they finish putting the cabin back together too quickly and we are still indisposed.”

Yukimura nodded as he tilted his chin up so that Niou’s fingers were across his lips. He parted his soft, pink lips slightly to allow the tip of the middle finger to dip into his mouth so that he could start sucking on it lightly. The feeling of his captain sucking on his fingers made Niou want to cum then and there without even having his cock touched. But, he pulled himself together and added a third finger to start stretching and opening Yukimura’s body up.

Again Yukimura was impatient to have Niou inside him so he moved the hand away from his mouth so that he could growl out, “Niou Masaharu, I want you inside of me NOW!”  
Niou knew that tone. It was the tone that his captain used when he wanted someone to do something immediately and if they didn’t, they would have an infinite number of laps to run. So, partly out of fear for what would happen if he didn’t, he quickly positioned himself, smeared some lube on himself haphazardly and finally thrust into Yukimura in one swift movement.

He braved waiting only a few seconds for Yukimura to adjust to the invasion before he pulled back and thrust back in hard and quick. After doing this several times, he quickened his pace and it wasn’t long before he was cumming inside Yukimura. The trickster was afraid Yukimura hadn't been satisfied as well but when he reached his hand around to feel if Yukimura was still hard, he could feel something sticky on his captain's stomach so he pulled his new lover's torso up and pulled his head around to claim Yukimura’s mouth in a wet, sloppy kiss.

The two boys then collapsed, spent and thoroughly sated, and laid still for several moments before Niou finally pulled out of Yukimura’s body and went to retrieve a wet towel from the bathroom to clean them both up. Once they were at least less sticky than they were a moment before and were dressed, Yukimura pulled Niou in for a passionate kiss.

When they broke apart for air, Yukimura whispered in Niou’s ear, “Thank you Masaharu. I hope we can do this more in the future.”

“What about Sanada?” Niou asked, leaning back to look at his captain.

“I’ve recently decided to let him go. I just feel like we’ve hit a rut with our relationship and I’d like something new. I’ve even thought about allowing him to find company in Akaya.”

Niou almost fell over with Yukimura’s statement. “What?! After all this time of you telling us that you didn’t want us to corrupt him, even threatening to maim us if we did, and now you’re going to allow Sanada to date the kid?”

Yukimura crossed his arms as he looked Niou in the face and said, “Do you really have a problem with the captain’s wishes Masaharu?”

The trickster chuckled again as he pulled Yukimura’s arms apart and wrapped the slender arms around his waist before wrapping his arms around his captain’s. “Puri. Not at all, _buchou_ ,” Niou smirked before kissing Yukimura lightly.

As they stood there just holding each other, all Yukimura could think was, ‘There certainly is no place like home.’


End file.
